very overweight people

[jnelson0612]

Great!

[RonPurewal]

Now I can see how and why A is correct.
Thanks a lot for your great explanation.

you're welcome.

[YuY283]

Hi Ron,

Could you help further explain the question? what's the relationship between the metabolic rate and burning calories? why will they burn fewer calories just because their metabolic rate remains unchanged? And what's the relationship between the burning calories and consuming calories? I've got quite confused with this question.

Thanks very much!

[tim]

For this question, just consider:

metabolic rate == rate at which calories are burned

[RonPurewal]

what's the relationship between the metabolic rate and burning calories

'metabolic rate' is the rate at which the body burns energy. a calorie is a unit of energy, so these are one and the same.

surprisingly, this relationship is not spelled out anywhere in the problem—indicating that (a) the problem writers assumed that this equivalence is common knowledge AND (b) that assumption was borne out by the 'experimental' testing of the problem.

...so, if you didn't previously know that 'metabolic rate' is defined to mean 'rate at which the body burns calories', then, well, now you know. (:

[YuY283]

what's the relationship between the metabolic rate and burning calories

'metabolic rate' is the rate at which the body burns energy. a calorie is a unit of energy, so these are one and the same.

surprisingly, this relationship is not spelled out anywhere in the problem—indicating that (a) the problem writers assumed that this equivalence is common knowledge AND (b) that assumption was borne out by the 'experimental' testing of the problem.

...so, if you didn't previously know that 'metabolic rate' is defined to mean 'rate at which the body burns calories', then, well, now you know. (:

So if the people who have lost weight eat as much as those who have a normal weight, they will regain weight because their metabolic rate is lower (fewer calories are burned and more are converted into fat). The author makes his conclusion just based on the assumption that the people who have lost weight will continue to eat a lot of food containing lots of calories. Is my understanding right?

Thanks for answering

[RonPurewal]

i think you have the right idea, though you're not expressing it in the right words.

specifically, the idea isn't that these people will eat tons and tons of food, but, rather, that they will want to keep eating what was just enough food to keep them at their old weight (but is now 'too much', because they weigh less).

i'm belaboring this point only because you wrote 'lots of calories'—a wording that seems to overstate the case. (the author assumes only that they'll want to return to their previous calorie levels.)
if you understand that, then, yes, you have a perfect understanding.

[750plus]

Team,

Can you please help me in negating choice C. I am not able to see how this choice, even after negating, is not harming the conclusion.

Choice C: The amount of calories that a person usually burns in a day is determined more by the amount that is consumed that day than by the current weight of the individual

Negated Choice C The amount of calories that a person usually burns in a day is NOT determined more by the amount that is consumed that day than by the current weight of the individual.
So, the negated version says that the amount of calories that a person usually burns in a day is determined more by the current weight of the individual than by the amount that is consumed that day.

Now, how is this choice affecting the conclusion that the newly thin persons will ultimately regain weight until their body size matches their metabolic rate.

Please explain.

[RonPurewal]

So, the negated version says that the amount of calories that a person usually burns in a day is determined more by the current weight of the individual

yes, that is the negation of C... and this statement (the negation) is something that is actually REQUIRED BY THE ARGUMENT. (the entire argument is fundamentally based on the idea that, after losing weight, a person will burn FEWER calories than before.)

when you negate an assumption, the resulting statement should DESTROY the argument!
so, this choice is precisely the opposite of what you're looking for.

[750plus]

So, the negated version says that the amount of calories that a person usually burns in a day is determined more by the current weight of the individual

yes, that is the negation of C... and this statement (the negation) is something that is actually REQUIRED BY THE ARGUMENT. (the entire argument is fundamentally based on the idea that, after losing weight, a person will burn FEWER calories than before.)

when you negate an assumption, the resulting statement should DESTROY the argument!
so, this choice is precisely the opposite of what you're looking for.

yes, yes !

I understood.

Regards
Rajat Gugnani

[RonPurewal]

excellent.

[harika.apu]

So, the negated version says that the amount of calories that a person usually burns in a day is determined more by the current weight of the individual

yes, that is the negation of C... and this statement (the negation) is something that is actually REQUIRED BY THE ARGUMENT. (the entire argument is fundamentally based on the idea that, after losing weight, a person will burn FEWER calories than before.)

when you negate an assumption, the resulting statement should DESTROY the argument!
so, this choice is precisely the opposite of what you're looking for.

Hello Ron,
Is C required assumption ?

[RonPurewal]

just read the part that you quoted.

when you negate an assumption, the resulting statement should DESTROY the argument!
so, this choice is precisely the opposite of what you're looking for.

[harika.apu]

For this question, just consider:

metabolic rate == rate at which calories are burned

Hello Tim , what is the relation between consuming calories and burning calories.
How could i see this relation as i rejected option (a) as soon as i realized that it is talking about consuming calories.

Thanks,
Harika.

[RonPurewal]

what is the relation between consuming calories and burning calories.

if you eat more food than you burn, you get bigger; if you eat less food than you burn, you get smaller; etc.

i.e., the relationship(s) you've known since you were probably 6 or 7 years old.